Chapter 16
ANGEL
Iwoke to bliss, a sated peace that made sense because of the woman in my arms, rewriting my baseline.
For a guy who spent his entire love life with one woman searching for poetry in the dark, waking up next to Roxy was like finding the melody I had no clue my soul was missing.
She lay tangled in the sheets, languid, sensuous, soft breathing, and I inhaled her perfume.
I’d written songs about heartbreak and the brutal art of letting go.
However, as the sunlight played on her hair, I realized Roxy was my redemption after the storm of Evangeline’s betrayal.
The woman was thawing the heart I never thought would come off ice after Evangeline.
Roxy made me lower my guard, blowing my mind in and out of bed with her grace.
I’d spent the week wanting her near me, because, heck, she soothed me.
Add to that was the sheer perfection of our sensual compatibility, which blew my mind.
Our connection was so incandescent, it was as if she was healing some of my pain.
For the first time in weeks, I could think of Evangeline without it cutting me up.
Even now, as I stared at Rox lying next to me, I grasped that I was slipping and sliding into uncharted territory with her.
Biting my lip, I leaned over her, easing the sheet from her shoulders, revealing her tits.
Fuck, this woman was seductive but so dangerous.
My cock throbbed, going hard as a rock.
Unable to help myself, I slid lower on the bed, as my mouth came over her nipple.
Heaven.
I suckled it, at first lashing it with teasing strokes of my tongue, then with need.
She bucked beneath me.
‘Angel?’
As she breathed my name, her hand went into my hair, cupping the back of my head.
Sensations ravaged me; the bliss of being cradled and suckling her at the same time tore through my body and soul.
She was such a sweet escape as she woke, stirring, hand going under her tit to offer more of it to me.
I lapped, lavved, and nipped, so gone for her, rubbing my cock into her upper thigh.
She took pity on me, and I shuddered when her hand encircled it.
Shifting to bring it closer to her grip, I cupped her other breast, sucking, lost in bliss as she jacked and stroked me.
It was when her fingers squeezed my thick, swollen head around my barbel that I growled, canted my nape back, and shook.
My cum sprayed with wild abandon, coating her hands and tummy.
It was the hottest morning sex I’d ever had.
She kept pumping, and I remained hard, shuddering in pleasure.
When her hand left me to go between her thighs and her head fell back onto the pillow, I realized she was cumming too.
With a growl, I lifted her hand off and slid my still rigid member into her, fucking her as she bucked under me.
‘Heaven, baby, freakin’ ecstasy,’ I whispered into her ear as we trembled into each other, devastated, destroyed by the magnitude of our lovemaking.
We were insatiable and spent the next few hours going at it like rabbits.
We ended up in the shower with me sliding in and out of her, mouths fused as water cascaded over us.
When we emerged at lunchtime, it was only because we were both starving.
We raided the fridge and created a platter of prosciutto, fresh figs, grapes, cheese, croissants, and espresso.
We took it outside to the terrace where I placed Roxy between my legs on a lounge chair.
I fed her the fruit one by one, loving how delighted and sweet she smiled at the simple gesture.
After we ate, she painted some more and I played a few more riffs on my guitar.
However, I soon ended up just studying her.
I was getting addicted to how her nose crinkled when she concentrated.
I narrowed my eyes on her freckles dusting her cheeks, loving how she squinted whenever she lined up a stroke on her canvas.
I stared when her full lips bit down on the end of a paintbrush as she lost herself in the work.
Unable to resist, I kissed her long and hard until we ended up in bed again.
Mrs. Campanelli stayed away all day, leaving the keys to the kingdom in our hands.
The villa belonged to us, and we spent hours making love in almost every room, from the jacuzzi to the steam spa.
After a dinner of mussels in wine, we swam in the pool.
Dessert was Roxy’s thighs encircling my waist as I drove into her, gripping her ass, the water churning all over us as we both came together.
Roxy clung to me, her arms pinned around my neck, her legs clamped to my flank as we drifted near the edge.
Our upper skin stuck, hot and slick, as my heart pounded like a jackhammer from what we shared.
‘So beautiful, Roxy,’ I rasped, meaning every word as I took her mouth for a long, melding kiss, my cock still planted inside her.
When I tore it from her, she tucked her face into the curve of my shoulder.
Her warm breath hit my collarbone as three words slipped out of her lips.
‘I love you,’ she whispered.
My whole body locked up, my muscles running cold while my mind slammed the emergency brakes.
The utterance burned through me, dragging up ghost memories of Evangeline, the only woman who’d used those words with me, during a moment like this.
Hearing them come from Roxy sent a wave of panic surging through my gut, making me want to tear myself away from her grip.
She leaned back and tilted her head at me, her expression aghast as she bit her lip.
‘I didn’t mean to -.’
She ducked her head, her hands coming up to her face to cover her flushed cheeks.
Damn.
I couldn’t return the sentiment, but I also refused to destroy her tonight, not when she was still in my arms, and I was still rooted inside her.
I needed to reassure her, make her heart feel protected, even if the wound in my chest was tearing open and bleeding with mistrust and doubt.
I squeezed her hips, pressing my mouth to her temple as I struggled to hide my churning emotions.
‘Don’t go getting shy on me now, Roxy,’ I rasped, running my palm up her spine to soothe her.
‘I never meant to say that,’ she muttered into my skin, her voice layered with embarrassment.
‘Look at me,’ I commanded, cupping the back of her neck until her glistening eyes locked onto mine. ‘You never have to apologize to me for anything with me, sweetheart.’
‘You’re safe with me, Roxy, always,’ I added, brushing her cheek with my thumb.
She let out a shaky breath, burying her head under my chin.
I shifted my grip, easing out of her before lifting her out of the pool as water cascaded off our bodies onto the deck.
My head swirled, remembering how Evangeline used her declarations of love to manipulate me.
I had to remind myself that Roxy wasn’t her sister, but the fear of repeating old mistakes clawed at me like a feral beast on the inside.
‘Bed?’ I rasped as I wrapped her in a plush cotton robe.
She nodded as I scooped her up into my arms.
She rested her forehead against my torso, clutching my bare shoulders as I carried her through the shadowed house.
The air-conditioned primary bedroom was quiet, a contrast to the storm raging in my mind.
Tamping aside my churning emotions, I laid her on the mattress, crawling in beside her and pulling the duvet over our cooling skin.
She curled into me, throwing an arm over my ribs as if she belonged in my arms forever.
I pulled her close, resting my chin on top of her damp hair, staring at the ceiling fan while my thoughts ran wild.
I’d protect her with my life, but opening my damaged heart to her love was like walking blindfolded into a minefield.
I wasn’t ready, not now, perhaps not ever.
A call shattered my sleep the following dawn.
My phone vibrated against the nightstand, and I rolled over with a groan.
My stomach twisted at the sight of Evangeline’s name flashing, all sleep lethargy evaporating.
Untangling my limbs from Roxy’s sleeping form with care, I grabbed the device and slipped out onto the balcony.
I shut the glass door behind me before answering.
‘Evangeline?’ I growled, my heart thudding.
‘Angel? Oh my god, Angel, please don’t hang up.’
Her inflection was a sloppy cascade of sniffles and heaving sobs.
‘I’ve been such a fool. Everything over here is a disaster, and I - I can’t stop thinking about us.’
She was regretting her entire decision to dip.
An icy hardness settled in my gut as I listened to her hyperventilate.
‘You made your choice, Eva. You packed your bags and you left.’
‘It was a mistake!’ she sobbed, her voice cracking with that familiar, desperate pitch that used to make me drop everything to fix her shit. ‘I thought I wanted space, but I don’t. I want you. I want our life back. Please, Angel, tell me it’s not too late. Tell me you still love me.’
I glanced through the window at Roxy, who was still fast asleep in my bed.
The peace on her face was a beautiful contrast to the chaos bleeding through my phone.
Months ago, hell, weeks before, I would have given Evangeline my final dollar and my last ounce of energy to make her happy.
Damn, I once believed our forever was the endgame; that the struggle was just part of our poetry.
My rose-colored glasses were now stripped off, and all the emotion churning in me was fury and annoyance as she begged me to get back together.
No fuckin’ way, not after she sabotaged and betrayed me.
‘It’s too late, Eva,’ I clipped. ‘You broke us; you walked away on our most important day. I’m done being the safety net for yet another bad choice you’ve made.’
She gasped at my clinical delivery.
‘So cold, Angel? Do you hate me now? Have you moved on? You’re probably cheating on me,’ she sobbed.
I scoffed in disbelief at her audacity.
‘Me? Betraying you? You’re the one with some explaining to do in that department. Who was it that picked you up at the wedding venue, Evangeline?’ I demanded in a snarl.
‘A friend,’ she whimpered.
‘Yeah? This pal have a name?’
‘I can’t say,’ she stammered. ‘It’s not safe.’
‘Why? Is that because he’s your lover?’
Her silence gave me the answer I needed.
‘Has he now turned on you?’ I drawled.
‘Told you I can’t say,’ she yelled, her delivery rising to a frantic, shrill screech. ‘I regret it all. I hate how everything happened. Let’s try again, let’s elope and get married.’
She had no idea about Roxy and me.